Louisiana
State files lawsuits alleging CVS deceived customers in text messages
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana filed several lawsuits accusing pharmaceutical giant CVS of abusing customer information and using its dominant market position to drive up drug costs and unfairly undermine independent pharmacies, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday.
Attorney General Liz Murrill began investigating CVS after the company sent out mass text messages to thousands of residents on June 11 to lobby against legislation that took aim at its business structure.
The texts warned that medication costs could go up and all CVS pharmacies in the state would close.
The lawsuits, which were filed Monday in central Louisiana’s St. Landry Parish, seek “injunctive relief, civil penalties and restitution,” Murrill said.
CVS “abused customers’ sensitive information to push a political message,” Republican Gov. Jeff Landry said Tuesday at a press conference.
He noted CVS had lobbied his wife over text via the same messaging chain normally used to notify her about picking up a prescription drug or other healthcare-related matters.
One lawsuit argues that the text message lobbying constituted “unfair or deceptive acts” in violation of state trade law. Two Louisiana-based law firms have filed a separate class action lawsuit against CVS over the text messages.
CVS has denied any wrongdoing.
Two other lawsuits allege that CVS artificially inflates prices for consumers and independent pharmacies.
CVS serves as a pharmacy benefit manager — essentially an intermediary that buys medication from manufacturers and distributes drugs to pharmacies.
CVS and the mail-order pharmacy Express Scripts dominate the market by processing about eight out of every 10 prescription drug claims, according to the Federal Trade Commission, which warned in a 2024 report that this allows for “inflating drug costs and squeezing Main Street pharmacies.”
Because CVS also owns a vast network of retail pharmacies — including 119 in Louisiana — it sets the terms for how prescription drugs are sold to customers there.
The proposed law that sparked the text messages from CVS had sought to ban pharmacy benefit managers like CVS from owning drug stores. The law failed to pass, but Landry has stated he will seek to revive it.
In the state’s litigation, Murrill alleges that CVS business structure and practices allow the company to “manipulate prices, restrict competition and channel profits internally.”
One lawsuit accuses CVS of “systematically under-reimbursing independent Louisiana pharmacies to the point of economic hardship, while routing patients to CVS-owned facilities.” The lawsuit alleges that CVS imposes “unethical, unscrupulous, and exorbitantly high fees on independent pharmacies.”
CVS said that it should not have to pay higher rates for “less efficient pharmacies” and that this would lead to “higher costs for consumers.”
Another lawsuit argues that CVS uses its market control to exclude lower-cost drugs for “high-rebate, high-price brand drugs” and other practices that “distort the drug market” and “drive up costs for the state’s public health programs and its citizens.”
Landry said he would seek new legislation targeting CVS if existing laws were insufficient to win in court.
Vermont
Woman with ties to cultlike group appears in court after border agent’s killing
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A woman charged in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent appeared in a Vermont federal court Tuesday in one of multiple criminal cases linked to a cultlike group known as Zizians.
Authorities have said Teresa Youngblut fired the bullet that killed agent David Maland during the January traffic stop. Another agent fired back, wounding Youngblut and killing her companion, Felix Bauckholt, officials have said.
The Zizians are a group of followers of Jack LaSota, a computer scientist who has blogged as “Ziz” on subjects including veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence. The group mostly consists of computer scientists who met online, shared anarchist beliefs and became increasingly violent.
LaSota, who is facing state and federal weapons charges, was taken into custody in February in rural western Maryland with two other followers.
Youngblut and Bauckholt were both affiliated with LaSota’s group, which authorities have also linked to killings in Pennsylvania and California. Youngblut has pleaded not guilty to charges of intentionally using a deadly weapon towards law enforcement, and using and discharging a firearm during an assault with a deadly weapon.
The Tuesday federal court appearance was a discovery hearing in Burlington. Youngblut entered the courtroom in handcuffs, wearing a face mask, an oversized burgundy shirt and baggy white pants.
During the appearance, U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss put forth a proposal for how the pretrial review of case material will be handled, offering to appoint a special master.
Defense attorney Steven Barth argued that the defense should have “first review of pretrial records to determine what is privileged, what is protected and what is not.” U.S. attorney Dennis Robinson argued against the defense getting “first crack on communications” and expressed support for a special master to review case material. He also stated that the government is still actively developing its case.
Reiss ruled that she will be the reviewer and will use a special master if the workload becomes unmanageable for her.
Prior to Youngblut’s arrest, authorities had been watching her for several days after she and Bauckholt checked into a hotel wearing black tactical gear and carrying guns. Local border patrol agents also were told that Bauckholt was a German citizen with unknown immigration status. Authorities said Youngblut shot Maland after being pulled over.
The shootout was one of several violent incidents that has been linked to the Zizians. Members of the group have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on California landlord Curtis Lind in 2022, Lind’s subsequent killing, and the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple.
Prosecutors in Baltimore announced last week that a federal grand jury indicted LaSota on charges of being an armed fugitive. LaSota uses feminine pronouns and in her writings says she is a transgender woman.
Authorities said LaSota possessed several firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition when she and two other Zizians were arrested earlier this year after a resident called police to report that a group of people had parked box trucks on his property and asked to camp there. They were charged with trespassing, obstructing law enforcement and illegal gun possession.
State files lawsuits alleging CVS deceived customers in text messages
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana filed several lawsuits accusing pharmaceutical giant CVS of abusing customer information and using its dominant market position to drive up drug costs and unfairly undermine independent pharmacies, the state’s attorney general said Tuesday.
Attorney General Liz Murrill began investigating CVS after the company sent out mass text messages to thousands of residents on June 11 to lobby against legislation that took aim at its business structure.
The texts warned that medication costs could go up and all CVS pharmacies in the state would close.
The lawsuits, which were filed Monday in central Louisiana’s St. Landry Parish, seek “injunctive relief, civil penalties and restitution,” Murrill said.
CVS “abused customers’ sensitive information to push a political message,” Republican Gov. Jeff Landry said Tuesday at a press conference.
He noted CVS had lobbied his wife over text via the same messaging chain normally used to notify her about picking up a prescription drug or other healthcare-related matters.
One lawsuit argues that the text message lobbying constituted “unfair or deceptive acts” in violation of state trade law. Two Louisiana-based law firms have filed a separate class action lawsuit against CVS over the text messages.
CVS has denied any wrongdoing.
Two other lawsuits allege that CVS artificially inflates prices for consumers and independent pharmacies.
CVS serves as a pharmacy benefit manager — essentially an intermediary that buys medication from manufacturers and distributes drugs to pharmacies.
CVS and the mail-order pharmacy Express Scripts dominate the market by processing about eight out of every 10 prescription drug claims, according to the Federal Trade Commission, which warned in a 2024 report that this allows for “inflating drug costs and squeezing Main Street pharmacies.”
Because CVS also owns a vast network of retail pharmacies — including 119 in Louisiana — it sets the terms for how prescription drugs are sold to customers there.
The proposed law that sparked the text messages from CVS had sought to ban pharmacy benefit managers like CVS from owning drug stores. The law failed to pass, but Landry has stated he will seek to revive it.
In the state’s litigation, Murrill alleges that CVS business structure and practices allow the company to “manipulate prices, restrict competition and channel profits internally.”
One lawsuit accuses CVS of “systematically under-reimbursing independent Louisiana pharmacies to the point of economic hardship, while routing patients to CVS-owned facilities.” The lawsuit alleges that CVS imposes “unethical, unscrupulous, and exorbitantly high fees on independent pharmacies.”
CVS said that it should not have to pay higher rates for “less efficient pharmacies” and that this would lead to “higher costs for consumers.”
Another lawsuit argues that CVS uses its market control to exclude lower-cost drugs for “high-rebate, high-price brand drugs” and other practices that “distort the drug market” and “drive up costs for the state’s public health programs and its citizens.”
Landry said he would seek new legislation targeting CVS if existing laws were insufficient to win in court.
Vermont
Woman with ties to cultlike group appears in court after border agent’s killing
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A woman charged in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent appeared in a Vermont federal court Tuesday in one of multiple criminal cases linked to a cultlike group known as Zizians.
Authorities have said Teresa Youngblut fired the bullet that killed agent David Maland during the January traffic stop. Another agent fired back, wounding Youngblut and killing her companion, Felix Bauckholt, officials have said.
The Zizians are a group of followers of Jack LaSota, a computer scientist who has blogged as “Ziz” on subjects including veganism, gender identity and artificial intelligence. The group mostly consists of computer scientists who met online, shared anarchist beliefs and became increasingly violent.
LaSota, who is facing state and federal weapons charges, was taken into custody in February in rural western Maryland with two other followers.
Youngblut and Bauckholt were both affiliated with LaSota’s group, which authorities have also linked to killings in Pennsylvania and California. Youngblut has pleaded not guilty to charges of intentionally using a deadly weapon towards law enforcement, and using and discharging a firearm during an assault with a deadly weapon.
The Tuesday federal court appearance was a discovery hearing in Burlington. Youngblut entered the courtroom in handcuffs, wearing a face mask, an oversized burgundy shirt and baggy white pants.
During the appearance, U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss put forth a proposal for how the pretrial review of case material will be handled, offering to appoint a special master.
Defense attorney Steven Barth argued that the defense should have “first review of pretrial records to determine what is privileged, what is protected and what is not.” U.S. attorney Dennis Robinson argued against the defense getting “first crack on communications” and expressed support for a special master to review case material. He also stated that the government is still actively developing its case.
Reiss ruled that she will be the reviewer and will use a special master if the workload becomes unmanageable for her.
Prior to Youngblut’s arrest, authorities had been watching her for several days after she and Bauckholt checked into a hotel wearing black tactical gear and carrying guns. Local border patrol agents also were told that Bauckholt was a German citizen with unknown immigration status. Authorities said Youngblut shot Maland after being pulled over.
The shootout was one of several violent incidents that has been linked to the Zizians. Members of the group have been tied to the death of one of their own during an attack on California landlord Curtis Lind in 2022, Lind’s subsequent killing, and the deaths of a Pennsylvania couple.
Prosecutors in Baltimore announced last week that a federal grand jury indicted LaSota on charges of being an armed fugitive. LaSota uses feminine pronouns and in her writings says she is a transgender woman.
Authorities said LaSota possessed several firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition when she and two other Zizians were arrested earlier this year after a resident called police to report that a group of people had parked box trucks on his property and asked to camp there. They were charged with trespassing, obstructing law enforcement and illegal gun possession.
